Beats Music Coming Jan. 21 with Perks for AT&T Subscribers

Not content to simply manufacture overpriced headphones, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are jumping into the subscription-based streaming music pond next week with their own (pardon the expression) spin on the industry.The New York Times reported Saturday that the long-rumored Beats Music online streaming service will finally see the light of day on January 21, at least for listeners in the United States.

After taking the world by storm with expensive "bass-heavy Beats by Dr. Dre headphones," the company has set its sights on Spotify, Pandora and even Apple's new iTunes Radio with Beats Music, which co-founder Jimmy Iovine says will help music lovers decide what to listen to next.

“What song comes next is as important as what song is playing now," Iovine remarked, pointing out a problem the average music fan might not even realize they have in the first place.

According to The Verge, Beats Music has tied up with AT&T for an "exclusive partnership" allowing wireless users to subscribe for $14.99 per month and allow five users to stream to up to 10 devices. The special pricing is geared toward those with a family plan, since Beats Music will otherwise only be offered for $9.99 per month for a single user with up to three devices.

AT&T subscribers will also have longer to decide whether Beats Music should swim or sink: Instead of the usual seven-day free trial, Ma Bell customers will have 30 days for individual accounts or 90 days for families.

Beats Music promises roughly 20 million songs at launch, with unlimited downloads for local playback. The service will be supported on Sonos wireless speaker systems at launch, which will arrive next Tuesday, January 21.

Comment

They did a great job with the headphones. Not a user, but you can see them anywhere now. Nice design, great marketing story .. very Apple like. No wonder they have the prime spot anywhere where they sell Apple products.

For a price of one music album the whole family can stream music .. But with so many cheaper alternatives, for beats music to make it they will need to have this song scheduling executed really really well. So good service and apps + the same marketing/product hype as the headphones sound promising to me..